


Broken

by down_into_underland



Series: ShiroMatt Week 2016 [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, M/M, matt is broken, set after matt was injured in the arena, shiromattweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-25
Updated: 2016-09-25
Packaged: 2018-08-17 05:35:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8132327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/down_into_underland/pseuds/down_into_underland
Summary: How long has Matt been like this? Lifeless and spiritless. What could possibly be done to fix such a broken boy?





	

**Author's Note:**

> Happy shiromattweek everyone!!! WOO!!!! You can check this out on tumblr as of course but anyway here's day 1's fic which is to be about reunions! Stay tuned for more all this week!

Everything was cold. Cold, and dark. Even when there was light, everything seemed so dark and suffocating. No matter where you looked, there was something dark on every body that sulked passed. Dark bruises, dark circles under eyes, dark and soulless eyes from prisoners broken long ago. 

Matt was no different.

His bruises were dark and were constantly moving and growing, his scars were larger and never fading, his eyes held not a shred of the curiosity and light that once flowed from every pore in his body. Matt had held in for a long time. Even after Shiro saved him and was taken away from him, even after he was forced to watch his dad and the other older prisoners be taken away to a less tiring work camp, even after he watched an execution for the first time. But even he couldn’t last forever. Eventually, they broke him too. And the last bit of light within Matt was consumed by darkness. 

There was no hope for Matt; not anymore. He once believed these aliens would let them go once they realized they knew nothing. That was wrong. He once believed Shiro would keep them all together. That was wrong. He once believed Shiro would come and rescue them all. That was wrong. 

Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. 

Matt seemed to always be wrong. His last bit of hope was the one person he always believed in and that was Shiro. That was when he heard the story of a Galra ship being attacked from the guards outside his dorm. 

“Did you hear about the fleet that was destroyed? Apparently all of the prisoners ended up being shot into space.” One guard had said.

“You mean they’re dead?” The other asked.

“Yeah, unless they somehow can fly through space without any protection.” The first replied.

“So? Who cares? They’re just worthless prisoners.” The second guard said uninterested. 

“No but apparently they were the prisoners transferred along with the Champion!” The first guard explained, and Matt’s heart dropped. Everything around him became worthless static. Nothing else mattered because Shiro had been shot into space and was gone. Shiro was dead. Shiro was never going to come back for him, or any of them. 

That was the day Matt lost that bit of light in him. He went about his days doing whatever it was he was told. He didn’t cry when a guard would hit or beat him for slipping up, he didn’t care that his stomach growled when they “forgot” to feed to prisoners, and he even stopped reacting to the executions. He was a walking zombie. Simply waiting for the day he either dropped dead, or was killed for messing up one too many times. 

Life no longer mattered to Matt. Because there was no life worth living. This life he had now was all he could ever had, and there was nothing but darkness and cold sadness for him here. His heart, body, and mind were numb, as if he were wrapped in an inky blanket of ice. 

Then. Out of nowhere. Things changed. 

There was an explosion. The work camp Matt was out was being attacked. The guards began ushering all of the prisoner into the underground cells, yelling and shoving at anyone who moved too slow. They were each shoved into their individual cells, except, for some reason, Matt.

“Take him to the cell in the back! If this place goes, take him back to the main fleet. He’s too useful to lose now!” The captain of the guards shouted as Matt was being pulled limply away. 

Why was he being taken there? They said he was useful. But how? Matt was an empty shell of nothing, no more useful than any of the other broken and beaten prisoners. So what was the reason for Matt being useful? Matt could feel something bubbling up within his chest. It was something he hadn’t felt in so long. What was that feeling? A feeling of wanting, a yearning, to know what they were talking about, to know why everything was happened, and had happened.

Was this what curiosity felt like? Matt couldn’t remember.

Matt was shoved in a small room, no bigger than a broom closet with a small ledge to sit on in the back. The guards stood ready and armed for a fight outside. Matt still had that feeling in his chest, but the larger part of his mind told him to give up, sit down, and wait to be told what to do. After all, that was all Matt ever could do. That was all he knew now. The Dark, the cold, and hopelessness. 

But things had begun to changed. From the very second they heard that explosion, everything would change for Matt. Because it was then that everything Matt thought he had forgotten forever came back to him. 

There were gunshots and yelling, the guards were tossed aside like dolls, and the door to Matt’s small and cramped cell was ripped open. 

A ray of light like none other Matt could ever remember shone so bright Matt thought he might go blind.

“Matt!” He was embraced by two strong and familiar arms.

A loving warmth spread throughout Matt’s very soul as the icy blanket that trapped him began to thaw. 

“Matt? Are you ok? Can you hear me? It’s me, Shiro! Come on, we’ve got to get you out of here with everyone else! Your dad is waiting for you too!” 

The last puzzle piece fell back into place. Matt hadn’t been all wrong after all. Shiro brought them all back together, Shiro had come back to rescue him and everyone else. 

Shiro was here. 

Matt hadn’t even realised Shiro had picked him up and carried him to a strange ship while Matt began to process everything that he was feeling. They were in some sort of robotic… cat? None of that mattered.

Shiro was actually here.

Matt’s arms wrapped themselves tightly around Shiro’s neck as he cried into his shoulder.

“You’re here! You came back! You’re here!” Matt began repeating over and over again as if convincing himself it was the truth. Shiro smiled lovingly down at the boy in his arms.

“Yeah, Matt. I’m back, and I’m not going anywhere this time. I promise.” 


End file.
